Talmudic Insights into Chanukah

by Rabbi Mendel Weinbach zt'l

The following is an adaptation of Rav Mendel Weinbach's lecture "Talmudic Insights into Chanukah." The
original lecture
is available on cassette from The Jerusalem Echoes Audio Library
at Ohr Somayach. Rav Weinbach is a Dean of Ohr Somayach at the
central campus in Jerusalem.

The basic mitzvah of Chanukah is to celebrate "the miracle
that happened then," by lighting the chanukia for
eight days. Interestingly enough, though, there is a dispute in
the Talmud between Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel whether to increase
the number of candles each day from one to eight, or to start
with eight and remove a candle each day for eight days. Although
the definitive Halacha rules according to Beis Hillel, who argues
that we add a candle each day, it is worthwhile to look at the
dispute between Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel for the many insights
into Chanukah that it brings to light.

Beis Shammai's rationale for going downward relates to the parim,
the bulls, offered as sacrifices on Succos in the Temple,
which were offered in descending order from 13 to 7 on each of
the 7 days of Succos totaling 70 bulls in all, corresponding
to the 70 Nations of the world. There are two dimensions to the
parim. One dimension is that we have a concern for the
material and spiritual well being of the entire world. (The Talmud
tells us that the 70 Nations of the world are in a perpetual state
of decline). When we offer sacrifices, we unlock an energy which
brings blessings from heaven for the entire world. (If the Babylonians
and the Romans who each destroyed the Temples in their own time,
had understood what was being achieved for them with the sacrifices,
they would have come with guards to protect the Temple rather
than come to destroy it). Therefore, this is an expression of
concern for the entire world, because, without the energy created
by our sacrifices, the world is in a state of decline. The second
dimension of the parim sacrifices is to infuse a special
nationalistic energy into the Jewish People to remember that they
are an elite corps chosen by G-d to be a light unto the Nations,
so as to inspire them, and to strengthen their resistance to the
negative corrupting pagan influences of the 70 Nations, expressed
in the declining pattern of the sacrifices. Thus, lighting the
chanukia in descending order would symbolize the decreasing
effect that entropy has on the world and the decreasing influence
that the 70 Nations have on the Jews.

Unfortunately, the 70 Nations of the world did not understand
the nature of the sacrifices in the Temple. As such, the Jewish
People have suffered countless pogroms throughout the ages
and the destruction of two Holy Temples. Although the Greeks did
not actually destroy our Temple, they contaminated it. Chanukah
celebrates the return of holiness to the Temple after the contamination
of the Greeks. Hence, Beis Hillel argues that since holiness was
returned to the Temple, and since we move upward in matters of
kedusha, (holiness), then we should light in ascending
order to illustrate this increase in kedusha.

Chanukah took place in Israel during the Hellenistic oppression
called golus Yavan. This third exile lasted 180 years,
and was dubbed the exile of darkness because the
Greeks made every effort to make Jews see and understand the world
in a way which was alien to the Torah. Darkness, because nothing
is as dark as the enslavement of the human mind. The golus
Yavan is always referred to as darkness because it
took away the light of Torah.

Darkness is the absence of light. Things that are negative we
call darkness. They are opposite of good Evil is darkness. But
you can combat Evil in the world. You can attack it by fighting
whatever is wrong in the world; or, you can create such
a tremendous light where you are that the darkness just fades
away. Chanukah expresses the victory of light over darkness. But
the question lies in what strategy is most successful: to burn
away and destroy Evil; or, to create a greater light so that the
darkness just vanishes?

Look closely at the nature of a flame. It has two very distinct
properties: it can burn, and it can illuminate. In combating Evil
in the world, do we destroy it, do we burn it, or do we illuminate
Torah creating a greater light in the world to dissipate the darkness?
This is the nature of the machlokes, (dispute), between
Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel. Both methods are valid, but what
is supposed to be the main thrust of a Jew, what is to be learned
from what happened in Chanukah?

Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel are both agreed on the purpose of
kindling the chanukia - It is to rekindle in ourselves the light
of the triumph over darkness. And they both agree that the number
of candles should be different each night to signify that each
day of the miracle is unique. But its uniqueness can be expressed
either by adding or subtracting a candle each day. Beis Shammai
learns that when we fight the negative corrupting aspects of the
prevalent pagan world-culture either through sacrifices, (or prayer
when we have no Temple) we are steadily wiping out their influence
on us, which is reflected in the decreasing pattern of the parim
sacrifices on Succos. Thus, we should light the chanukia
in the same way: starting with eight and reducing the number of
candles each night. In this way, the burning quality of the flame
symbolizes the diminishing effect that the negative forces of
the world have on us, the destruction of Greek paganism, and ultimately
the destruction of Evil in the Universe.

On the other hand, Beis Hillel sees the battle against immorality
in the world, not as a confrontation, but rather, as an important
reason to raise ourselves spiritually, to become the embodiment
of morality in the world by living according to Torah principles.
This way, the entire world would see us and want to imitate us.
So, says Beis Hillel, the more successful method of wiping out
darkness, is by increasing the illumination of Torah everywhere,
not by burning away Evil, but rather, by increasing our light
as a Torah Nation. For this reason we increase the number of candles
each night to remind ourselves of our responsibility, as Jews,
to steadily increase the light of Torah knowledge and understanding
in the world; banishing the darkness of Evil by becoming a light
unto the Nations.

When Moshiach comes, all the Nations of the world are going
to realize that whatever they did in the world succeeding in enriching
themselves, building a world military-power, making scientific
discoveries, becoming an economic-power, whatever they are going
to see that the point of it all had to do with what impact it
would have on the Jews. We're supposed to be "A Light
Unto The Nations." That's our own particular G-d
given role in the world. That's what light is all about. When
we perform as light, when we do something about bringing the light
of Torah into the world, that's when there is light! And when
there isn't, when we aren't learning Torah or performing mitzvos,
when we assimilate, G-d sends us the Babylonians, the Persians,
the Greeks, the Romans, the crusaders and the pogromists,Enlightenment and Emancipation, and the Western
World, and all the other threats that happened throughout history.
They are sent to stimulate us, to wake us up, and to arouse us
back to our original purpose.

If we are going to forget our purpose, and if we are going to
try to become the 71st Nation of the world, then G-d will stop
us. He won't tolerate that. We can't be a 71st Nation because
then the entire world will surely sink into the morass of immorality
and corruption. There has to be at least one Nation that is pulling
everybody up and not copping out of its responsibility. And if
we don't do this, then somebody is going to come around and remind
us that we're Jews and that we have this responsibility. Why do
you think that all the attempts of Jews to become the 71st Nation
- to assimilate - have failed? And don't think that they haven't
tried hard enough Jews have tried, oh have Jews tried in our time
perhaps harder than any other time there has been an attempt of
Jews to disguise or to forget their Jewishness and to just blend
in to the melting pot, to just blend in with the rest of
the world. You know why it has failed? It has failed for one very
simple reason: "you can change your Moses, but you
can't change your noses." Meaning, you can say all
the protestations you want about what you believe, and you can
try to dress like them, eat their food, sing their
songs, speak their language, and do everything like them,
but there is always going to be somebody who will recognize
some feature of your Jewishness, and he is going to be
the one who reminds you. That is his purpose. G-d sends
them to shake us back into a realization of what we're
all about and that we can never be part of those 70 Nations
because we have a unique role to play in the world.

In the end of days our Sages tell us that there is going
to be a world trial, like a post Nuremberg trial, except that
there is going to be only one judge: The One Judge; G-d. And G-d
will ask the 70 Nations: "what did you do to promote Torah
in this world?" And the Talmud says that all the Nations
will come forward with their new understanding of world history,
and they will try to take credit for having enabled Jews to learn
Torah by providing them with such necessities as marketplaces,
roads, bridges, and bathhouses. But G-d will reject their claim
telling them: "Although your achievements did actually
benefit the people of the Torah, it was only because My
Divine Plan of World History put you in a position to do
so; but, in fact, your motivations were purely selfish ones: either
for economic exploitation or physical gratification."
In a broader sense, throughout history, the persecution of Jews,
although motivated by primitive anti-Semitism, has also been part
of The Divine Plan for reminding Jews of their special mission
in this world.

Hence when we are lighting our Chanukia this year, we should
have in mind that, in our encounter with "darkness",
we don't want to use the flame to burn and destroy the world,
rather, we want to use it to illuminate the whole world with Torah.
We want to light the way for all the Nations so that they can
prosper materially and spiritually. The prescription for overcoming
"darkness" in our time, is the same as it was in the
time of the Hellenistic oppression: by increasing our light. If
we increase our learning, and if we increase our holiness, then
we will truly be "A Light Unto The Nations."

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